


The Kindly Prince

by Voidromeda



Category: Starfighter (Comic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Drabble Collection, Gen, Secretly Maybe Symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:14:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23330731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Voidromeda/pseuds/Voidromeda
Summary: Ethan is the Kindly Prince, son of the King who rules with an iron fist.All he wishes is to be free of the confines of the castle.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	The Kindly Prince

**Author's Note:**

> This was a collection of drabbles, all of which are exactly 100 words leading up to 1300. (13 separate stories.)
> 
> I always love writing drabble collections, especially to tell a story like this. I hope you enjoy this.
> 
> *aggressively plays Evil Xylophones while Disturbing Chants happen around me*

“I am a kindly prince,” says the gentle Ethan, name mismatching his persona – of sweetness and gentle dewdrops, soft little tears grace his long eyelashes, “I am powerless before my father,” says the prince Ethan, pleading to servants to let him free, “but I wish to be as free as you want to be.” he says to them, the gentle Ethan, kindly and saintly as he is.

Servants stare at one another uncertain – maidservants twist their grips around their brooms, manservants grip buckets too tightly to be normal. They take deep breaths. They lead him out through a secret passage.

Riots break out into towns – a kingdom of strength, empowered by falling stars and titan tearing space apart, besieged by unhappy townsfolk and distressed civilians. They know not who the royal family is – they know not that Ethan is a prince, esteemed and sweet, royal. He watches, from the sidelines, as people fight furiously against the guards only to be subdued. He watches mallets and maces rain down mercilessly upon the young, the old spared only due to an old law now misguided.

Ethan watches, and watches, and watches. Blood splatters the ground, stains it. He slowly, carefully back away.

“Do you not see their displeasure, Prince Ethan?” says a cook when he wanders away at night to the pantry. He stares upon her face, burns scarring her beyond recognition. Exhaustion reigns supreme and her red hands continue to knead, chop, cook. He stares at them while she lectures, “do you not understand the troubles you cause for us, Prince Ethan? Freedom has a price, son,” she continues, “and you can’t pay it, not yet, not ever.

“Go to your chambers, Prince Ethan, and study. Study until you are willing to be king, and rule however you see fit. Leave!”

Bile gathers in his belly as he studies. He ejects it out every five minutes. His father calls for a physician, who sees immediately the problem and rubs his face. “Prince Ethan,” he says, tired, “I do not understand you, nor will I ever.” he gives to him medicine to expel all the waste from his belly, flowing it out thick and disgusting, disturbing. Tears stream down and stain him anew.

The servants let him escape one more time, then another, then another. He asks of their punishment, worry gnawing at him. They look at him and tell him nothing.

Not all who engage in the riot are good people, fighting for just causes – some are as selfish as the king himself, as the man who runs with an iron fist and strike down anyone who dares to question him and his authority. Ethan watches from the sidelines as thieves gather alongside citizens, murderers willing to take bribes or payment to cause problems for the royal army.

“All men need to sleep,” says a mousy man with a terrifyingly sharp dagger, “even the army – as fortified as they are, need to rest. That is when we shall strike them down.”

A bastardized knight in gleaming grey rides upon a ‘cursed’ horse – one-eyed and temperamental, yet obedient to this knight who charges through Ethan’s bodyguards and strikes them down with ease. The knight seems to stare at him, then he raises the guard of his helmet up so that he looks at Ethan properly.

“You look rich,” he says with teeth as sharp as a wolf’s, grinning madly and widely, “and who’re you, huh?”

“Abel,” says Prince Ethan, heart thudding against his chest, “I am Abel.”

The knight reigns his horse back. “I’m Grand-Knight Cain. Remember me when the world falls.”

His father’s corpse is a mess of gore and blood upon the throne. Ethan stares, and stares, and stares. The Grand-Knight stands triumphant next to his trophy, the helmet off and an overconfident smirk paints his face – he is not as pale as Ethan is, not as scared. He carries a thief’s honour to him, perhaps now a murderer’s decree.

“The King is dead, rich boy!” claims Cain, arrogant, haughty, “the King is dead! But then, where is the Prince?”

“I – I am the kindly Prince,” says Ethan, “I have come to claim the throne, and to prove my worth.”

Mother does not look him in the eye. He will not take any wives and she seems to understand, immediately, why so. He reads over the history books to see what previous kings have done, and then slaves over laws. His head spins – he understands very little of the tax laws, or of the military. He lowers costs by a small amount and leaves the military as is.

Recruitment shall continue as normal.

The people of the Kingdom are far stronger than the King of ‘fore gives them credit for – Ethan will not let himself fall like his father does.

The castle walls are fortified – secret passages are destroyed and overfilled, making sure no one leaves and enters. He traces over paths that mousy thieves with sharp daggers may have taken and has the builders work upon the faults of the castle. The stars that power them sits within the bowels of the castle, long since untouched.

Ethan hears the siren call of the stars. He buries his hands in his hair while the world around him moves on.

The problems of the people must be addressed. Future rebellions stopped. He needs to understand the good people, he needs to.

Under the rule of his father, the Steel King as he now learns his nickname from the people, the guards feel empowered to do what they wish to the civilians and brutalize them with single-minded efficacy. He has the higher, royal guards gather the city guards up and bring them before him in his throne room. Civilians, too, now flood into the castle when Ethan announces that he wishes to deal with the guards attacking the kingdom’s people.

An executioner stands behind him. Slowly, carefully, he walks past the kneeling guards and beheads them all. Ethan considers that a victory.

The builders who repair the castle defences are paid just as they should be, even if they make faces at the payment. “This needs to have been done long ago,” claims Ethan, and the leader of them has the audacity to look ashamed, “I am fixing my father’s errors,” he continues, “this is not anything new. But I will pay you handsomely for future projects.

“The people of the kingdom have had their houses burned down and ruined. Many of them are without homes. I am sure I can think of a way to remedy it. I keep my promises.”

At the dead of night, Ethan rounds up the thieves and murderers who rebel against the previous King. With an executioner to keep eye on him, Ethan grabs a knife and slits their throats – but leaves the mousy leader alive. He peers up at through curtains of hair and then stares at Ethan curiously when he cuts the rope around his wrists.

“You are the leader of them, are you not? Snake King Deimos, they called you. Not even a Bandit King.” Deimos merely stares at him. “Work for me as my royal spy. Be mine, and you shall live.”

Dissenters shall always exist within a Kingdom, this Prince Ethan now knows. He is a kindly Prince, now a kindly King, who has done as well as he can. He works to fix problems and weed out those in his ranks who he knows to be brutal and as empathetic as demons and keeps his eye out for those who may be the same.

His royal spy works quickly, gathering information of their own people and of other kingdoms.

When Ethan drinks of the poisoned wine and passes away, he will be remembered as the King With A Serpent’s Tongue.

**Author's Note:**

> Aggressively plugs my [twitter](https://twitter.com/voidromeda) and [pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.social/flynn)
> 
> This will probably get an author's note on my pillowfort at some point.


End file.
